[ Outline ] · Standard · Linear+ What do you think of this system

[artzelda]

What do you think of this system??? Would you recommend any changes???


Aurora™ 7500

Warranty: 3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service Bundle with AlienAutopsy and Respawn

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2

Chassis: Alienware® Full-Tower Case - Saucer Silver

Cable Management: Alienware® Cable Management System

Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 510 Express 650 Watt peak power

Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4800+ Processor with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology

Motherboard: Alienware® nForce™4 SLI™ Chipset Motherboard PCI Express

Memory: 2GB Ultra Low Latency DDR PC-3200 SDRAM at 333MHz - 4 x 512MB

Graphics Processor: Dual NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6800 Ultra PCI Express 256MB DDR3 with NVIDIA SLI Technology

Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimizer

Chassis Upgrades: AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling System with Acoustic Dampening - Astral Blue

System Drive: Extreme Performance - Serial ATA RAID 0 - 500GB (250GB x 2) Serial ATA 7,200 RPM w/16MB Cache

Optical Drive One: NEC® ND-3520 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive

Optical Drive Two: Plextor® PlexWriter Premium 52x32x52x CD-RW Drive

Floppy Drive: 3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High Definition 7.1 Surround Firewire (IEEE® 1394)

Network Connection: Integrated High Performance Gigabit Ethernet

Display One: No Monitor
Display Two: No Monitor

Speakers: Logitech® Z-5300e 5.1 280-Watt Speakers

Keyboard: Microsoft® Multimedia Keyboard - Saucer Silver

Mouse: Razer Diamondback Mouse

Alienware Exclusive Offers: Gamespot Complete - Free 90-day Trial (a $20.85 value)
Alienware Exclusive Offers: 10% off your next EB Games online purchase
Free Alienware Mousepad: Free Alienware® Mousepad
Desktop Enhancements: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
AlienInspection: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!
AlienWiring: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $99.99 Value - FREE!

[Audiyoda]

Alienware tech-support is non-exisitant. So let me see what I could build that for:

(All from NewEgg for simplicity unless noted)
WinXP Pro SP2 OEM: $145.95
Thermaltake Shark Full Tower blue light kit: $156.98 (from Xoxide)
SilverStone Zeuz 650W PS: $168.99 (from Xoxide)
AMD Athln64 x2 4800+ 1GHz FSB socket 939 Dual Core Processor - OEM: $1139
ASUS A8N-SLI atx nForce4-SLI AMD motherboard: $144
Corsair XMS 2Gb (4x512mb) DDR PC 3200 Dual Channel : $376
MSI nVidia 6800Ultra 256meg SLI PCI-X DDR3 $970
AcoustiPack Acoustic Dampening $69.95 (from QuietPC.com)
Maxtor DiamondMax 250GB S-ATA HDD x2: $278
NEC DVD Burner (dual layer): $59.99
Plextor Plexwriter Premium CD-RW: $67
Creative Audigy2 ZS Gamer Edition (7.1 surround): $72.99
Logitech THX Z-5300e 5.1 Speakers: $138
Logitech LX300 RF wireless keyboard/mouse: $43
Total: $3830 before shipping.

I would change a few things:
-The NEX and Plextor would get changed out for two Lite-On drives.
-I wouldn't in my wildest dreams use RAID 0 for my system drive.
-Why pay for a 'video optimizer'? What are they going to do, sing to your screen? Video optimization is easy and you shouldn't have to spend money for it.
-A 510Watt PS is not enough for that SLI setup (two S-ATA drives, two optical drives, dual core CPU, light kit, floppy drive, case fans AND two SLI enabled 6800Ultras - minimum requirements by my math would be 610Watts continuous power.

Alienware price: $4683 after a $300 mail-in rebate.